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Friday, August 25, 2017

New house updates!

Hello all! Thanks for your the support during our move and the excitement about the new house! It's been a whirlwind for the past couple of months.

When I shared the new house with you a month ago, I shared early photos from when we first walked in and fell in love with it. Since then a LOT has happened! We took over the build right after windows went in so we were able to specify where we wanted plumbing, lighting and outlets.

We added some custom touches like a rough in for a sink in the garage (it's going to be SO NICE), a water line and plumbing down to the basement for a future kitchen, a few new lights and sconces, and most importantly for me -- extra outlets in places I have always dreamed of having them. ;) I added one to the floor of my office so I can have a lamp and plug in my computer without cords running all over (cause you know how much I hate cords!), two to our mud room/laundry for a future charging station and a lamp, one in the pantry so I can keep small appliances plugged in (going to be awesome!) and...my favorite, a plug in the mud room closet so I can keep a dust buster and cordless vacuum charged up. I also was able to move outlets to where they would be hidden by furniture or to better locations. I love being able to make those little changes to a house!

So over the past couple of months they've done electrical, plumbing and drywall. I forgot how long drywall takes! It was a good two weeks of little (noticeable) progress because of the mudding and sanding on repeat.

But there's been some exciting updates over the past week that give us hope that we won't be in a hotel forever! They've started all of the trim work, which includes what feels like most of the finishes. All of the cabinets and trim (like crown), baseboards, window trim, door trim and doors, mantel/fireplace surround, mud room built ins and even the stair railings and posts will go up during this process.

They won't be done till next week but I couldn't resist taking some photos. I'd say they're about 3/4 of the way through the list -- still have some windows and base to get in, some fishing touches on the cabinets, and then the mantel and stairs. They also have a couple sinks/counters to install (the granite will come later). By the way, you can see the finishes I picked out for the house in this post.

So here's a look at the kitchen and eat in area as it was a couple months ago:

And here it is now:

I can't wait for mornings at the breakfast table in this sunny spot! It gets the best morning light in the house!

I was standing in the doorway below for the before shot, and this is looking back at it into the kitchen:

So many things I'm excited about in here! Cabinet lighting (like I did at our house) will be installed, we'll have a double oven that I'm SO thrilled about, and we added things we have at the old house that we love, like a trash compactor. (See more about that and why I love it so much at the link.)

I had the upper cabinets removed from by the fridge and I'll be adding some shelves there, like I had in my kitchen. They'll be much wider though, so I'm really excited about that. I also had a sconce run above as well.

Can we talk about the pantry for a second? That door there?:

Yeah, it's huge. I mean, not HUGE. But big. Big compared to what we've both had our whole lives. I mean, I want to just lay down and sleep in there, I'm so excited about it. I'll be able to store SO many things in that room. I am looking forward to dressing that room up someday.

Here's a look at our master:

The room has five windows, which I'll LOVE during the day. But at night I'm going to need big time light blocking. I need total darkness to sleep well. It drives my husband a little crazy 😂 -- one little tiny light from a charger will illuminate the entire room (at least to me). This room is the exact same square feet as our last one, but skinnier and longer. We may have to nix our chairs that were in our master before. I'm looking forward to figuring the layout in here!

I'm excited because I found a bunch of stuff to return to Lowe's while packing up and had enough to purchase this light I've been eyeing for the master:

It's the Kichler Merlot light and I first saw it there a few months ago but didn't have a spot for it at our house. It will be lovely in our room -- I loathe installing lights but this one I'm excited about getting up. ;)

The great room has some of my favorite views -- I've said it before but I can't wait to decorate this house for Christmas!:

The stair railings and fireplace surround aren't in yet...I'm waiting with bated breath! But it's come a long way:

That window on the staircase is one of our favorite parts of the house -- it lets in SO much natural light. This house faces a different direction from our other one so this window is a total game changer for what would have been a dark space.

And my other favorite view -- the big windows in this room that overlook our covered patio:

Trim isn't on the windows here yet but I can still imagine how our big tree will look in front of these windows! 😍

I forgot to get a shot of our master bath and the mud room -- the latter is nearly done other than the floors and paint! Of course the build can't move fast enough for us, but from now on the changes will be pretty exciting to watch. Before it was literally watching drywall and paint dry. ;)

Can you see why I fell in love with this house from the start? It has been an exercise in patience and for the most part I've been pretty good about the delayed gratification of it all. It's really been so fun to see it all come together. We've got a busy weekend and early week, but I will be back next week with more! Have a great weekend all!

How exciting! I like a whole lot of darkness at night, too. I've used these curtains from Amazon and curtain rods from Target and despite the weight, the rods have held strong for over 4 years. The curve around to the wall really cuts out a lot more light. I didn't take the curtains all the way to the ceiling, but that would certainly cut out almost all light. Can't wait to see what you do with all those beautiful spaces!

I love reading your blog updates right now because it reminds me of the fun time we had when our home was built. You mentioned so many of the added features that we are so happy with. We had quite a few plugs added to our floors....some in the office so that our huge desk can sit in the middle of the room. We added floor plugs in the middle of our great room because our sofas and love seats sit in the middle of the room and we wanted lamps on all of our end tables. Just love all these floor plugs. The other feature that we also LOVE is the sink in the garage. Not many people think of that but we use it ALL of the time! We have a floor to ceiling pantry cabinet in our kitchen (as well as a pantry) and we added plugs in the cabinet and keep our microwave in there. Love that we never have to see the microwave! After living in our home 6 years, I think there is only one plug that I wish we had added. I think that is pretty good! Your home is going to be absolutely beautiful! Parts of your home's floor plan are actually quite a bit like ours so I am hoping to "steal" some decorating ideas from you!

Your new home looks beautiful. It is difficult to read your blog with all the adds that pop up and they don't go away - the only option is to click on them they don't have the x to get rid of them it is annoying.

Good afternoon, Sarah,I have enjoyed seeing your project come together on your site. I especially look forward to your special touches when you can finally decorate! I hope this finds you well. ~Natalie

I literally laughed out loud when you mentioned needing it to be dark for you to sleep and that it drives your husband crazy. I am the same way. I actually carry electrical tape when I travel so I can cover the lights on smoke detectors, microwaves and clocks. Can't wait to see what you do with your new house! I know it will be beautiful.

I thought for sure you would have them add a window seat. One under that picture window in the great room would have been lovely! I'm like you with needing a dark room at night..not one tiny thing can be glowing!! Blackout shades are the answer and no electronics...lol. Looking good!

In the house in which I grew up, we'd set up our (live) Christmas Tree in the family room every year. Our house was on a corner lot, and the family room had windows on three sides.

The family room also had another unique feature; an outlet in the floor in the very center of the room!

When the Christmas season rolled around, we rearranged the furniture, placing the sofa against one wall, and set up the tree in the center of the room. Having that outlet in the floor meant there were never any light cords to trip over, and because the tree was in the middle of the room, it could be seen from both streets on the corner.

I mentioned this because of what you said about adding outlets in places you've always wanted them; having an outlet in the floor is SO cool - and is great if you want to have your sofa in the middle of the room with lamps at either end (you can place the sofa over the outlet and run the lamp cords underneath it).

Just something to consider! BTW, I've *never* seen another house with an outlet in the floor in the middle of the room, but having that one in our house was very useful (and cool!).